


Beyond the Sea

by hellostarlight20



Series: Nine x Rose [54]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: AU, Angst, Conservation, F/M, Fluff, Longing, Oceans, Romance, environmental protection, prompt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-05-29 05:18:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15065978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellostarlight20/pseuds/hellostarlight20
Summary: Well, this all started with a photo of Christopher Eccleston in a wetsuit. That was all it took. A little poking, a little prodding, and BOOM! Fic.Nine x RoseIsland AUangst, fluff, romance, rated Teen+All my thanks to Mrs. Bertucci for her beta and extensive knowledge of scuba diving.Also involves environmental commentary, the problem of plastics in our oceans, endangered fish, and drug running.





	1. Chapter 1

1  
Doctor John Noble, emanate professor of biological oceanography, scowled at his students as they collected samples along the coast of the tiny Moore Island, part of the Bahamas.

He didn’t scowl at them, per se, so much as in general—the beautiful day, the warm water, the light chatter of his students. It didn’t matter. Folding his arms over his wetsuit-clad chest, he scowled and looked around the beach. 

This was not how he’d intended to spend his day. Or week.

“Professor Noble.” He turned at the sound of his title, if not the name he preferred, and looked at his favorite student, Billy Shipton. “Professor Saxon is asking for you.”

The Doctor dropped his hands and scowled harder. Billy used to be his favorite.

Probably not Billy’s fault he had to talk to Saxon eventually, but he’d have preferred it not to be moments after unpacking and changing. This really wasn’t where he wanted to be today. Billy held up his hands and flashed a charming grin.

“Don’t shoot the messenger, yeah?” Billy shook his head, grin almost instantly dropping. “Pardon my asking, but is everything all right?”

Billy, far too observant for his own good, tilted his head and peered at him. The Doctor outright sneered. “Fine.”

“Only,” Billy continued, seemingly immune to the Doctor’s scowl. He’d have to work on that. Couldn’t have the students immune to his patent scowl. Ruined his reputation. “You just left for home a week ago. We all thought—well, I hope everything’s all right, Doc.”

“Don’t call me Doc,” he snapped. Sighing, the Doctor rubbed his eyes. “Fine, everything’s fine.” His hand curled into a fist, which he instantly relaxed. It wasn’t Billy’s fault.

None of this was Billy’s fault. Even though Billy had been the one to voice his suspicions about Saxon, the Doctor had already suspected. Still, it was nice to have someone else with a keen eye. And a healthy dose of suspicion. All right, maybe Billy was his favorite.

He jerked a nod. “Where’s Saxon?”

“Over there with his new students. They arrived last night.”

“Thanks, Billy.” Apparently, his manners hadn’t deserted him.

The Doctor stalked to the neighboring site where Saxon’s students collected water, laughed and joked, and generally did what all students did on their first day out of the classroom and in the field. Especially on a beautiful island in the Caribbean in March.

“Oh, excuse me.”

He looked down at the voice but saw only a pair of wide eyes blinking innocently up at him. Not Saxon’s eyes, not even his voice, and it momentarily threw the Doctor. He’d been so focused on the other man, he hadn’t watched where he’d been going.

“Lucy, sorry, wasn’t watching where I was walking.” The Doctor gently placed his hands on Lucy and held her in place while he carefully stepped around the fragile-looking woman. “I’m looking for Saxon.”

“Oh, Harry’s just over there.” She gestured vaguely in the direction of the university’s tents. “I was just about to give the new students their introduction.”

“Right. Yes.” The Doctor’s gaze swept over the beach, the groups of students, any one of whom might be in on Saxon’s scheme. He looked back down at her, positive she knew of Saxon’s dealings. “You do that, Lucy.”

Despite her being in on Saxon’s plans, he squeezed Lucy’s shoulder. And didn’t miss her flinch. Saxon had a lot to answer for. Turning from her, the Doctor resumed his search for his supposed partner-professor.

The sea breeze cooled his skin, and his wished he’d remembered to grab his sunglasses before leaving his own camp. At the very least, he’d be able to mask the direction of his gaze...or annoyance. That’s what he got for rushing.

Another thing he blamed on Saxon. Because he could.

“Saxon.”

“Ah, Doctor.” Saxon rose, smooth as could be, and grinned that slightly mad, slightly predatory smile. “I’m sorry you had to cut your little holiday short.”

The Doctor clenched his left hand into a fist then deliberately relaxed it. _No punching the man_. He needed to remember that.

“Eh.” The Doctor shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest again. “It’s cold and rainy in London now, anyway.”

Saxon laughed, a slightly too long and slightly too loud sound. “I’m sure the University was sorry to see you leave so soon.”

Again, the Doctor shrugged and scowled. _Fishing, Harry?_ “Don’t much care, me. Prefer it here in the field.”

“Hmm, yes.”

“Besides, Jabe missed me.”

Saxon’s gaze took on a peculiar light the Doctor chose to ignore. He’d apologize to Jabe later. And warn her.

“What did you want to see me about, Harry?” He tried his best to keep his annoyance out of his voice. Well, not very hard, but he did try. Or maybe he just thought about trying. Still.

“Oh, the new students. Once again, the University sent me far too many and I know several of yours have dropped out.”

If by dropped out Saxon meant returned to England, yes. If by dropped out he meant arrested? No. Not yet, at least. But the Doctor planned on seeing that they were.

“Eh, it’s always exciting when they’re promised half a semester in the Bahamas until they realize the work.” The Doctor waved that away, supremely unconcerned with anyone who couldn’t keep up. He only cared about those still here with Saxon. “Sure, send them over. Lucy’s out there now giving them the introduction speech. You have any in mind, or do you want Lucy to randomly choose?”

“Oh, I’ll send them over. Gotta keep the paperwork clean.” Saxon smiled in dismissal and sat back at his makeshift desk in the shade of a canopy beneath a cluster of palm trees.

Rolling his eyes, the Doctor turned for his own camp. The sooner he caught Harry in the act the better. He didn’t have nearly enough evidence for a conviction and refused to let Harry walk. No, the Doctor planned to see Saxon in jail for the rest of his life.

“Oh, Doctor.” Lucy appeared in front of him, like a wisp of smoke. “I have that list of students Harry wanted you to have.”

The Doctor studied the woman, and took the paper she held out like a beacon. “Thank you, Lucy.” He kept his voice low and gentle as he always did when speaking with her. “Have them move their gear to my camp.”

“Of course, Doctor.” Lucy swayed on her feet as she walked away.

The sand wasn’t that uneven, and despite another beautiful day, Lucy wore a long, sarong-type dress that covered her from neck to ankles. The Doctor added domestic abuse on his list of things to see Harry Saxon jailed for.

Slowly unclenching his fist, a habit he needed to break and fast, the Doctor scanned the names. None looked familiar. Just as well.

“Are you Professor Noble?” The voice drifted to him, a siren’s song on the island wind.

The Doctor turned toward the woman, medium height, blonde hair pulled into a sloppy bun at the back of her head, sunglasses hiding her eyes. “Yes. Why?”

She grinned, tongue teasing the corner of her mouth. He did not stare. Long. Next time—sunglasses.

“Just checking. Heard you were some big, impressive oceanographer.” She looked him up and down. “Nice wetsuit.”

“Four PhD’s me. I am impressive.” He crushed the paper in his hand and crossed his arms over his chest. His skin chafed beneath the long-dry wetsuit, and he itched to return to the water, like a selkie away too long.

“I guess I’ll see.” She held out her hand. “Rose Tyler. One of Professor Saxon’s students.”

“Nice to meet you, Rose Tyler.” In his hand, hers was slightly calloused, but she shook his hand firmly, not lingering. Shame, he liked her hand in his.

She tilted her sunglasses up and winked at him, eyes sparkling in the shadow of the palm trees. “Always a pleasure.”

With that, Rose Tyler turned and melted back in with the crowd of students now gathered around Lucy. She hadn’t been on the list and would be staying in Saxon’s camp. The Doctor tried not to let worry creep up his spine, but he didn’t like this plan.

“Doc?” Billy emerged from the tents, a tablet in one hand and a confused expression on his face. “You have a call from London.” He met the Doctor’s gaze. “Everything all right?”

“It’s fine, Billy.” He ducked into the tent. “See I’m not disturbed. And make sure the students Saxon’s sending over are situated.”

“Sure, Doc.” Billy didn’t look convinced but did as asked.

Far too observant for his own good, that one. The Doctor didn’t want to see anything happen to the kid, he genuinely liked Billy. Settling on a stool, he swept his gaze around the area. He wouldn’t put it past Saxon to bug his tent.

“What?” he barked into the phone.

“Can’t a friend call?” Jack Harkness asked, all charm and smile that came clearly across the line. Then again, Jack was in Freeport on Grand Bahama Island less than an hour’s flight. “I’m just making sure you made it back to your island in one piece.”

“Yes, of course I did.” He paused and took a breath. “Is there something particular you wanted, Jack?”

“Wanted to make sure all your new students arrived, too.” Cagey as ever, Jack. “I heard there was a storm brewing.”

“It’s too early for hurricane season.” The Doctor looked at the tent wall as if he could see through it. “Everyone seems to be here; your concern is noted.”

“Don’t be a stranger, Doc. Missed you in London.”

“I’ll be back again at the end of the semester.” The Doctor paused and added quietly, “Thank you, Jack.”

He ended the call and looked at the screen. Definitely not where he wanted to be today. Wrong island, wrong people, wrong everything. Sighing, the Doctor stood to introduce himself to his new students.

Time to teach them the intricacies of ensuring the next generation of some of the most endangered fish species in the world.


	2. Chapter 2

2.  
“You wanted to see me, Professor?”

Rose Tyler stood in front of Professor Saxon, slathered in sun crème, ball cap protecting her head, sunglasses hiding her eyes. The constant Caribbean breeze brushed along her skin, reminding her of far more pleasant times.

But when opportunity arose, who was she to ignore it?

“Ah, Miss Tyler. I wanted to see how you were settling in here. You were a last-minute addition to my roster.”

Despite her instinct, Rose shook Saxon’s offered hand and managed to restrain herself from rubbing her palm on her shorts afterward. She’d just have to wash them, too.

“Oh, fine,” she said breezily. Rose even tried a wide grin. “I hadn’t been sure I could take the time from my job, but we worked something out.”

“Yes, job. You work at a bar, do you not?” Saxon, who apparently never wore sunglasses, looked her over.

His gaze, more lecherous than not, but not overtly so, stiffened Rose’s back and somehow made her wish she’d worn a top over her bikini. Rose neither flinched nor hit him. She deserved a pat on the back. 

“Yes, I do. University fees and all, living expenses.” She cleared her throat, nervously, and giggled slightly. “But I really wanted this half-semester in the field.”

“I’m glad you managed it then,” Saxon said smoothly. “I have a feeling you’ll go far. I read your records, you’re very smart.”

_Considering. Considering_ your financial situation. _Considering_ your council estate upbringing. Consideringyour roots. Rose waited for it, but it never came. She grinned wider, fingers purposely toying with the rolled hem of her shorts. He didn’t look and she filed that away.

“I worked hard, Professor. It wasn’t easy, but the best things in life never are.”

“No,” he murmured, gaze unerringly on her own. Rose had a feeling he saw every tick, every twitch. “No, they’re not. You transferred from East Anglia?”

Rose nodded.

“However did you get into Oxford?”

“Don’t know.” She grinned, giggling slightly in the hope of diffusing his suspicion. She knew transferring from East Anglia sounded suspicious, but it’d been the only UK oceanography department not to have any connection to Saxon.

“Lucky I suppose. Didn’t expect them to even look at my application, but they said my essay on the future of oceanography and the study and use of it to further humankind’s exploration of not only Earth but of the universe caught their attention.”

“As it did mine.” Another slightly oily, slightly lecherous smile that didn’t quite cross the line. Rose planned on moving the line. She wanted him nowhere near that line.

“Thank you, Professor.”

Saxon held out his hand once more. Rose took it again, doing her best not to think about touching the man. “I’m sure you’ll go far,” he repeated. “If you ever need anything, please come to me. I believe in helping my students in any way I can.”

Rose only nodded. “Thank you.”

Turning, she headed back to the rest of the students. Saxon had spoken to all of them; Adam, for instance, had been excited over working with the famous Professor Saxon, but Rose had a feeling Saxon hadn’t implied he could help Adam the way he’d done so with her.

Just as well. It’d ruin her plan if Saxon involved the others. Well, ruin in that she wanted to be part of it, had made sure to look as attractive—figuratively speaking—to Saxon as possible. Once she no longer felt Saxon’s creepily steady gaze on her, Rose headed for the water and rinsed her hands in the gently lapping sea.

She hated to contaminate the water with Saxon-stink but felt better once she wet her hands.

“Hey, Rose, everything okay?” Bill Potts, smart, personable, and, on paper, as poor as Rose, popped up next to her. “You looked a little sick after speaking with the Professor.”

“Oh, fine. Just…um, touched something sticky.” She needed to work on her stories, and fast.

“Yeah.” Bill looked at her oddly, as if she knew what Rose really meant. “Shame.” Just as fast, Bill grinned and bumped Rose’s shoulder. “Wish we had Professor Noble’s camp. I hear he lectures on all sorts of things at night. One of his students, Billy, told me he spoke on the entire history of this island and the various stories associated with its native stories of the constellations without once looking at a note.”

“Really?” Rose glanced toward the other students, a stab of longing stole her breath. She twisted her hands together, but only for an instance, before dropping them to her sides. “What else does he lecture on?”

“Oh, all sorts of things.” Bill started for their equipment, where they’d be analyzing the contents of the water. “Heard he likes to talk about the stars and universe, Shakespeare and Dickens, philosophy and science, you name it, he talks about it.”

“He does have 4 PhDs,” Rose said as they rejoined the rest of their group.

“How do you know that?” Bill frowned at her, hand hovering over the laptop.

“I did my research into both professors.” She shrugged. Also not a lie, despite conveniently neglecting to mention she’d spoken to Professor Noble. She liked Bill and really didn’t want to lie to her. “Professor Noble is brilliant, I hear, highly recommended, but Saxon is considered the best by the University. Plus, he has connections to the government.”

“Probably because he doesn’t spend three hours talking about dancing and poetry.” Bill laughed, and they set to work.

Rose only half understood what the various measurements meant. Her crash course in oceanographic measurements and sample readings, on various Caribbean fish and the different bits of coral hadn’t been nearly long enough. Instead of three months, she needed three years to decipher the information Bill understood with ease.

Then again, her own degree was in art. Not sea animals.

By the end of Day 2, Rose had crossed Bill off her list of potential suspects. Smart, outgoing, funny, and just the slightest suspicious of Saxon, Bill also covered for Rose when she didn’t write down the correct information.

Rose figured anyone wanting in with Saxon wouldn’t be so generous.

“You sure you’re all right?” Bill whispered when they switched stations with another group. “You seem distracted.”

“Yeah.” Rose rubbed her hands together, just the once, then shook them out. “It’s just—I left someone back home and, well, I miss him.”

“Ohh?” Bill’s eyebrows shot up and her face brightened.

“Yeah.” Rose tried to stifle her grin but knew it didn’t work.

As she and Bill moved onto wind speeds and barometer readings for the afternoon, Rose looked around the camp. She kept Adam on her list, but he liked to talk a little too much to be involved with a sneaky scheme like Saxon’s. That didn’t rule out the other twelve students, but Rose hadn’t the chance to talk to them all yet.

“Rose, dear.” Lucy, Saxon’s wife, called from the tree line.

Handing off her work to Bill, Rose jogged to where Lucy stood. Lucy, who had been involved with Saxon for years, but who hadn’t yet reported him for abuse or left him for something better, swayed in the wind. 

Rose wanted to reach out and steady her, wrap her in a blanket, and bundle her off this island.

All she did was grin at the thin woman and pretend she hadn’t noticed anything whatsoever wrong with Lucy. Her stomach rolled at the deception.

“Yes?”

“Professor Saxon wants you to deliver your findings to Professor Noble.” She smiled, a soft, vacant movement, and handed a sheaf of papers to Rose. “The hardcopies have been emailed, but the Doctor likes to look at the two camp’s readings side by side.” She tutted and giggled. “So old fashioned.”

“Right.” Rose took the papers, not bothering to glance at them—she wouldn’t understand them anyway—and turned sharply in the direction of the other camp.

Less than a mile away, the sounds of Professor Noble’s students drifted to her own camp. They laughed and shouted, completely unprofessional and yet sounding as if they enjoyed their work far more than anyone in Saxon’s camp.

Rose couldn’t blame them.

Just before the curve in the island, Professor Noble was easy enough to spot, tall and imposing as he stood on the shoreline, sunglasses obscuring his gaze, arms crossed over his chest, he looked like a sailor gazing across the sea to his lover.

Unbidden, the song popped into her head. _Beyond the sea, somewhere, waiting for me. My lover stands on golden sands and watches the ships that come sailing…_

Rose hummed as she crossed the beach, still not entirely sure why there were separate camps, why they all didn’t work together. Moore Island was small enough, not even 18 square kilometers and less than a thousand permanent residents.

“Hello, pretty lady.” One of the students stopped in front of her and grinned, bowing slightly and offering his hand. “How can I help you today?”

“Oh.” Rose extended her own hand, surprised when he kissed the back of it instead of shaking it. “I’m looking for Professor Noble. I have reports from Professor Saxon.”

“He was just visiting Miss Jabe.” The man nodded farther down the beach where Professor Noble stood. “You can leave them in his tent, though, with the other reports.”

Rose stepped around him, only at the last minute remembering her role in this scheme. “Thanks, but Lucy specifically told me to deliver them to him.”

“Lucy.” The man’s voice lowered, darkened. “Ah.” His voice lifted, and he smiled. “You can’t miss him. I’m Billy Shipton.” His entire face brightened and if Rose hadn’t seen it herself for those brief seconds she’d never known his concern over Lucy. Apparently, the entire island knew what happened here.

And no one stopped it. She didn’t either and what did that make her?

“Rose.” She walked toward the wharf. “Rose Tyler,” she called over her shoulder. “Nice to meet you, Billy!”

The beautiful day didn’t help brighten her mood. Still, she’d agreed to this even knowing the specifics. Even beauty such as Moore Island and the gorgeous Caribbean day couldn’t cover the darkness that lurked beneath the surface.

Suddenly chilled, Rose rubbed a hand over her arm. The day lost its luster, gray and monochrome where the brilliant blue of the sea once spread out. Walking faster, Rose dug her bare feet into the warm sand and let the individual granules remind her of her mission here.

Professor Noble talked with a tall, beautiful woman whose ankle-length thin skirt swayed gently in the wind. The tips of her long, thick braids brushed her lower back, and her eyes were shaded by large, fashionable sunglasses. Neither noticed her approach.

Just as she was about to call out, Noble turned and spotted her. Even behind the sunglasses, Rose felt his gaze pin her to the spot.

A shiver raced over her skin, so different than the self-loathing of inaction, and heat flushed through her. The woman, Miss Jabe presumably, placed her hand on Noble’s arm.

“Doctor?” 

“Ah, Rose Tyler.” Noble stepped from Jabe’s touch and turned fully to her. “Those Saxon’s reports?”

“Yes, fresh off the printer and full of pure Caribbean sea and air.”

His lips twitched. “You could’ve left them in the tent.”

“Oh, no,” she insisted, her own lips twitching. “I was told you needed these reports. Very special they are. I’ve been told you prefer old-fashioned paper to computerized information.”

The professor spluttered. “Old-fashioned?!”

Rose smirked and looked around him to a snickering Jabe. “Hi, I’m Rose Tyler, new field student.”

“Jabe Hield.” The woman smiled and held out her hand. “Welcome to our island, Rose.” She leaned in and nodded, almost imperceptibly, as Rose shook her hand. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I’ve heard much about you.”

“Thank you,” Rose whispered back, even though they were far out of earshot from anyone else. Louder she added, “It’s lovely here. Thank you for having us.” Rose meant every word and hoped her sincerity shone through.

“We welcome you.” Jabe nodded and stepped back. “Doctor, I’ll see you tomorrow for dinner? Grandmother misses you.”

He nodded, spared Jabe a glance, but didn’t watch her as she left. “The reports?”

Eyes narrowed, Rose held them out. “Grandmother?”

He shrugged, an elegant shift of his shoulders that showed off his lean body. She tried not to drool. Bill would be sure to notice that and Rose had no idea how to explain. “No one says no to Grandmother.”

Noble took the papers, fingers brushing hers. Rose shivered again and just barely restrained from looking over her shoulder. She had a feeling too many eyes watched them.

“I need to get back.” She licked her lips, thumb running along her palm, the underneath her fingers.

“Be careful.” He caught her hand and she sighed at the contact. “I miss you.”

Rose threaded their fingers together, an all-too-brief touch. “You owe me a proper honeymoon after this, John Noble.”

Even with his eyes behind his sunglasses Rose knew he winked. “Anywhere. Long as we’re together. And alone.”

He released her hand, a slow, reluctant movement, and Rose turned. She stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Love you, too.” She laughed and purposely teased the corner of her mouth—she knew the movement drove him crazy. “Even if you did rope me into this scheme of yours.”


	3. Chapter 3

3.  
After another restless night, sleeping alone among fourteen other students in one of the bungalows the University secured for them, Rose slipped out of bed and rummaged through her footlocker for her necklace. In the purple predawn, she eased the bungalow door closed and stepped outside for a walk along the beach.

Dangerous as it was—she couldn’t blow her cover and didn’t want anyone suspicious of her movements—she needed to leave.

Her bare finger ached for the weight of her wedding ring, settled there for only five days. Rose slipped the necklace over her head and felt the weight of her ring against her skin. Not the same, but it comforted her.

The constant lap of waves along the beach soothed her, and she understood why the Doctor returned to this island again and again. Why the ocean called to him and settled in his soul. She’d promised to share his love of the ocean, of the creatures there, when they married.

Rose had not expected to share her honeymoon with forty other people.

She tried instructing her feet to take her in the opposite direction of the Doctor’s camp, but her body only obeyed her desire to see him again. Trying for nonchalance, she walked past the white tent flapping in the wind, the equipment she still only half understood taking measurements she’d be required to interpret in the morning.

Even now, the crescent moon barely lighting the sea and the wind her only companion along the constant lap of waves, Rose wouldn’t change any of their time together. Her only wish was that she’d brought her sketch book. But Jack insisted nothing of her real life overlap with this one—except the things he deemed necessary for their plan to work.

“Walking the beach so early, Miss Tyler?”

His voice washed over her, and Rose instantly turned for the echo of his whispered words. “It’s a gorgeous morning.” She walked across the beach and into the trees. She didn’t need light to find him, always knew where he stood no matter the circumstance. “Quiet and peaceful. Until now.”

But her smile widened, and she knew he heard her happiness in those words. Shadowed by the trees, she didn’t see him reach out until his long fingers wrapped around her wrist. His mouth touched hers and Rose sighed at the contact.

His hands slipped down her back, over her bum, and Rose pressed closer. The Doctor lifted her slightly, strong arms holding her secure against him.

“What are you doing out?” he whispered against her mouth.

“Couldn’t sleep. Thought I’d spend the rest of our lives sleeping next to you.” Rose pressed her lips, hard, to his. “I missed you.”

“I miss you, too, sweetheart.” He set her on her feet and brushed her hair off her face. Chilled in the predawn morning, despite the lingering heat, Rose wrapped her hands around his wrists and held tight. “But you shouldn’t be here.”

“What were you doing here?” Rose narrowed her eyes. “Thought dinner with Grandmother was just dinner. Stayed late, did you?”

“Jealous?” In the slowly brightening morning she saw his grin, that daft look that lighted his face and made him all the more handsome. She brushed her fingers over the slight gray in his beard, resting her fingers along his cheek.

“Yes. Of every moment Jabe spends with you that I’m not there. Of everyone who spends time with you when I can’t.” She swallowed and clenched her jaw against the words bursting on her tongue. Finally she said, “I miss you, Doctor.”

“I know.” He wrapped his arms around her and tucked her head against his chest. The steady beat of his heart soothed her, as it always did. “I hate this. Heard Billy Shipton talking about meeting you earlier and wanted to snarl at him that you were my wife. Don’t want to share you with anyone.”

The Doctor rested his cheek on the top of her head and Rose tightened her arms around him, fingers digging into his shirt. Her ring, nestled between her breasts, was an unnecessary reminder of her role on this island. And also of her concern Saxon—or Lucy—might go through her things.

Rose pulled back and reluctantly release her hold on him. She reached beneath her shirt to the thin necklace holding her engagement and wedding rings and slipped it over her head. Gripping it tight in one hand, she cupped the back of the Doctor’s head and brought him down for a proper snog.

Not nearly enough to quell the ache in her heart, or the one desperate to feel her husband moving within her, Rose eventually pulled back. The Doctor’s lips lingered on hers, brushing the corner of her mouth, her lower lip.

“I could have Jack recall you,” he whispered. His hands tightened on her bum, pulling her close even as he clearly wanted to send her away.

“Don’t you dare.” Rose poked him in the chest. “Being on the same island with you is far better than being in England without you.” She rested her head on his chest again, face upturned to press a kiss to his exposed neck.

“It’s dangerous here.”

“I know. We went over this.” She reined in her aggravation at this repeated argument. Some of it must’ve slipped though because the Doctor huffed a breath in his own annoyance. “Doctor, I’m here, my background is perfect for Saxon’s little scheme, Jack made sure nothing about us landed in the official record or any social media, and it’s done.”

“I still don’t like it.” He brushed his fingers through her hair, lips hard on hers. “You shouldn’t have to be involved in this. Saxon’s dangerous.”

“And you think I’d let you deal with him alone?” Rose shot back. She kept her voice low, so as not to carry. Neither knew who listened in the darkened woods.

The Doctor sighed, defeated. “No.” He kissed her again, soft and lingering, mere brushes of affection. “That’s what scares me the most.”

Rose breathed out a laugh, unsure if she should laugh or continue arguing with him. “Infuriating man.”

“I know, you’ve said.” He grinned again and settled one hand on the back of her neck. Warm, comforting, home. “Repeatedly.”

“I’m sure I’ll say it the rest of our lives.” She grinned back at him.

He turned, then, and leaned against the palm tree. Gathering her to him, he held her close, his front to her back, and they watched the water. Rose closed her eyes, drifting in a kind of half-doze in the calming, secure embrace of her husband’s arms.

“You’ll miss the sunrise,” he whispered.

Rose blinked open her eyes and looked around. The beach, barely lighted by the rising sun, sparked with life. Birds swooped along the water’s edge, called to their mates deep in the woods. In the distance, she just made out fishing trawlers.

“I love you.” The words slipped out, not exactly what she wanted to say but so right. She had to leave, return to the bungalows where the students all slept before Saxon or Lucy missed her.

The Doctor’s arms tightened around her—he knew, too—then he pushed off the tree and turned her to face him. “Don’t do anything rash.” Hands running down her arms to her hands, he stopped when he opened her clenched fist.

Rose stared at the necklace. She’d forgotten she’d taken it off. “I need you to keep it.” Instead of meeting his gaze, and the heartbreak and understanding there, she stared at his long fingers as they traced the circle of her rings. “I don’t want anyone finding it and asking—” she swallowed but couldn’t continue.

A sob choked her, and when she tried to hide it, the sound burst forth. The Doctor kissed her again, through her tears. Rose had a feeling he held back his own emotion at leaving her. They’d promised never to leave the other, never to let the other walk alone no matter the path.

“You’re not alone,” Rose whispered through tears and love and determination and kissing her husband. “But I miss you every minute you’re not holding my hand.”

He choked out a laugh. “I miss you, too, sweetheart. My heart.”

The Doctor took her necklace and slipped it over his head, settling the long, thin chain beneath his t-shirt. “You’re brilliant, Rose Tyler-Noble. And I love you. But please be safe. This is a beautiful island with beautiful people, but Harry’s business is dangerous.”

He pressed his forehead to hers, as if to impress his words. Rose nodded and took a moment to regain her composure.

“I know. I’ll be careful. But if you can do it subtly, ask Jack about Bill? Bill Potts. I don’t think she’s involved. And I like her.”

“I’ll ask. Subtly, that’s me.”

Rose giggled and kissed him again, longing to feel his body against hers. “And tell Jack I miss him.”

The Doctor snorted. “No.”

“Don’t be jealous, love.” She laughed, lightness lifting her heart despite their deception. “I told him I’d never run away with him no matter what he promised. Though, he did promise me my own studio.”

“I gave you an entire island!” The Doctor spluttered.

“I know,” she agreed, all seriousness and solemnity. “But you wouldn’t let me bring my supplies. How can I possibly paint you, standing in your wetsuit, fresh out of the sea, and looking entirely too sexy with this scruff—” she ran her hand over his beard again, shivering at the memory of that roughness between her legs— “if I have nothing to paint with?”

“Hmph.” He stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Guess we’ll honeymoon on a deserted, tropical island, then?” He waggled his eyebrows. “Preferably naked.”

She gasped and leaned in. “It’s like you read my mind!”

“Get back to the housing.” He kissed her once more. “Be careful.”

Rose stepped back, the hardest step she ever had to take. “You, too. I want that body back in one piece. I have plans, mister.”

The Doctor growled and stalked closer. “Rose.”

She grinned, forcing all melancholy and sorrow from her smile, her voice. “Lots of plans. Naked plans.” She leaned up and pecked his lips. “Love you.”

Without looking back, she ran out of the wooded area and back to the beachline. The sun spread fingertips of light over the shore, warming the slight chill in the air and waking the island. Rose ran all the way back to the bungalows. By the time Bill woke, she had showered and scrubbed all evidence of both the Doctor’s kisses and her tears from her face.

She hated it.


	4. Chapter 4

4  
That afternoon, the Doctor went diving with his graduate students. His arms ached to hold Rose again and he knew every word out of his mouth was as short and as irritated as he had been when he returned to Moore Island.

Diving lost its fun. He didn’t have Rose to share it with.

They’d only had scant months together and teaching her in a diving pool so she could earn her certification wasn’t the same as off the crystal waters of the Caribbean.

Teaching lost its fun. He couldn’t talk to Rose about his students, their work. Nothing.

It didn’t matter he’d only known her three months. He’d fallen in love with her in the first week and nothing else had mattered. The moment she’d taken his hand—all right, the moment Jack had turned his back and they’d run from the restaurant—he’d been lost to her.

“Doctor? You ready?”

He looked up from his fascinating contemplation of the water and absently nodded to Ace. Brilliant student, Ace. Angry, snippy, and so determined to change the world. No one else agreed to take her on as a postgrad, the Doctor could see why.

Reminded him of himself, Ace did.

Which was why he fought to keep her in Oxford and fought even harder to see her on his research trip.

“Yeah. Ready.” He waited while she gave him what was becoming all his students’ normal curious, cautious look, then motioned her overboard.

Their goal was to both take water samples in a deeper part of the sea and clean up as much rubbish as possible. It infuriated him that he needed to spend his time, and his students’, doing such a thing. Not because he objected to cleaning his beloved sea but because of the necessity. However, single-use plastics were a very real problem and he refused to ignore it just because it wasn’t part of his damn, narrow-minded grant.

He licked his lips before placing the regulator between them and tried his best not to think about Rose. Or her mouth on his. Or the way her skin tasted. Well hell. Now he was hard—in a damn wetsuit—and wasn’t that bloody fantastic. He looked from the small fishing boat to the shore but didn’t see her.

From this distance, everyone on the beach looked the same, though the Doctor fancied himself able to pick out his wife in a crowd, even at a mile out at sea.

His wife.

Grinning goofily around the mouth piece, he rubbed his bare finger and vowed to catch Saxon in the act sooner rather than later. He hated this whole charade, the pretending, the living alone. When he and Rose stood in front of the judge, he’d vowed never to leave her side.

Though they both agreed this pretense was necessary; it didn’t make it any better.

Slipping backward into the water, the weight of Rose’s rings pressing against his chest, the Doctor focused on his current assignment. Rubbish pickup. He cast an eye over his students, each on their own portion of the sea-bottom, and each with their own tightly woven mesh bag for plastics rubbish.

No one seemed in trouble and each one of them had their sample jars already stoppered. Excellent. The Doctor loved it when people listened and did their jobs.

Nodding to his diving buddy, Billy, the pair set about completing their task. The Doctor turned back to the gently-swaying pile of plastic straws, scooping them into the bag.

Along with a very curious octopus.

The Doctor blinked and chuckled around his mouthpiece. Hello there he mentally greeted the octopus as if it could somehow read his mind. He didn’t care, not even when his imaginary conversation also included Rose’s joyous laughter.

Because he’d keep any conversation—real or imaginary—that included Rose’s laughter.

The Doctor slowly reached out and ran a finger over the octopus’s tentacle, somewhat surprised the curious creature didn’t pull back or dart away. The Caribbean Reef Octopus swayed with the currents, a beautiful light blue with brown blood vessels.

What’s your name, hmm? He asked the octopus though of course it—she, he decided—didn’t answer.

His very curious new companion wrapped around his arm, careful of her suckers, and rested her head in the crook of his elbow.

The octopus, clutching a straw in each of her tentacles, lifted her head and gave him such a plaintive look, he could’ve sworn she was human. Not usually one to assign anthropomorphism to animals, nonetheless the poor creature, clutching eight plastic straws as if they were her lifelines, tugged at his heart.

When he saw a bit of plastic poking out of one of her tentacles, his blood boiled.

Rose’s voice in his head sighed and giggled over the creature. His internal Rose-voice begged him to help the poor thing and the next thing the Doctor knew, he gave Billy the hand signal for surfacing and had made his way topside, octopus still attached to his arm, bag only half-full of rubbish.

“What’s that, then, Doctor?” Ace snickered, tilting her head at the octopus. “You seem to have grown an extra appendage.”

“She’s got a straw sticking out of one of her tentacles.” The Doctor dipped his arm into the water, not bothering to look at Ace. “Fetch me a bucket and fill it with water.”

Ace, already doing so, set the pail next to him and the Doctor transferred his arm from over the side of the boat to the bucket. The octopus did not release his arm.

Ace laughed harder. Billy surfaced and climbed up into the boat and instantly joined in the laughter. The Doctor scowled harder. Lifting his arm from the bucket, not the most comfortable position anyway, he automatically looked to the mainland.

He wanted to tell Rose about this, she’d love it. She’d laugh along with his students, but she’d be absolutely charmed by the clingy octopus.

“She needs a name,” Ace announced.

“No.” The Doctor glared at her, which only caused her to laugh harder.

The Doctor looked back to the shoreline. Whether or not this little octopus had a name, everything in him yearned to share this experience with Rose. Show her the curious little octopus, tell her about the creature. Dive with her and explore the Caribbean where they could watch all the octopi she desired.

Swallowing the impotent rage and clawing emptiness, the Doctor let the curious octopus wander the deck. She’d be fine for a little while, and the pail of water stood at the ready when she wanted.

“Call the rest up,” he ordered Billy, unable to tear his gaze from the island. “Let’s head back.”

The Doctor spotted Rose, looking out onto the water searching for him as he did for her. He knew the figure standing so still was his wife. Despite the indistinctness, the Doctor knew. He always knew.

Now, to plan how to join the two groups of students just so he could see Rose again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Caribbean Reef Octopus: https://www.octopusworlds.com/caribbean-reef-octopus/


	5. Chapter 5

5.

“The Doctor found an octopus.”

Rose blinked up at Bill, pulling her mind from the tedious paperwork to her friend. She blinked again as the words slowly sank in. “What do you mean, he found an octopus?” Rose looked around Bill to the expanse of blue-green water behind her. “Aren’t there loads of them in the Caribbean?”

Bill rolled her eyes and yanked Rose from the charts she filled out. Probably wrong. Luckily, Bill was a good friend and made it a point to look over her work before she filed it with Lucy. She never said anything—Bill not Lucy—but Rose knew she’d owe her a major explanation at the end of this mission.

Which sounded far more James Bond than it actually was. Well, less cloak and dagger and more women in bikinis on beaches. Rose sighed and rolled her eyes. Where had James Bond come from?

“And where are we going?” she asked. Bill tugged her along the sandy shoreline, hand firmly around Rose’s wrist.

“I know you don’t like wandering into the Doctor’s camp.” Bill shot her a curious look her sunglasses couldn’t hide. “You really do miss out on the best nights. I don’t know what you do here, but the Doctor’s lectures are fantastic.”

How could so simple a word as fantastic burn such yearning in Rose? The Doctor used it all the time, and it didn’t surprise her Bill picked it up. But to hear it from Bill instead of her husband physically hurt Rose.

This whole separation for the sake of arresting Harry Saxon needed to stop. She hated it.

“You tell me all about his lectures,” Rose reminded Bill.

It wasn’t the same and they both knew it. Then again, Rose could listen to the Doctor talk for hours. Had done—their first date lasted nearly the entire day as they talked and wandered London.

After Jack’s introduction, they’d enjoyed lunch but when their mutual friend headed for the bar, the Doctor had offered his hand and Rose never looked back.

“This is different,” Bill protested. “This you have to see.”

“An octopus.”

“Not just any!” Bill looked at her as if she were the daft one. “This one has powers.” Rose snorted a laugh and Bill joined in. “All right, not powers, but she’s got sass.”

“She? How do you know it’s a woman?” 

How did one tell octopus genders? They had genders, yeah? Rose had no idea. To be fair, she’d never seen an octopus up close, either. Pictures and nature documentaries, but never one first hand. Not even in an aquarium. Not that she’d ever been to an aquarium.

But she was certainly not about to confess that. She was supposed to be an oceanology major. Surely an oceanology major had spent time around water and sea creatures and had, at least once, seen an octopus in real life.

“The Doctor named her. Calls her Idris. She had a plastic straw imbedded in a tentacle and he took her onboard to extract it.” Bill looked at her excitedly. They walked side by side now, and Bill gestured widely with her hands, clearly thrilled over this latest happening.

Or possibly for the chance to visit the Doctor’s camp. Rose couldn’t tell.

She’d purposely avoided the camp, unwilling to give into temptation. Each night she ached to see the Doctor before climbing into her bed, alone and lonely. Each morning, before the sun rose, her feet insisted on walking toward his camp.

They hadn’t been caught. Not yet. That didn’t mean Saxon or Lucy didn’t spy on her. Rose felt the creep’s gaze whenever he left his little tent.

Considering she actually knew Saxon’s purpose on Moore’s Island—officially—and what she knew the Doctor did on this island, Saxon shouldn’t be spending more than an hour in his tent a day.

How no one else knew of his extracurricular—and illegal—activities Rose didn’t know. She knew Bill didn’t, her friend was far too suspicious about the couple. But she hadn’t said a word to Rose. Adam, well, he liked to brag too much for Rose to really think Saxon involved him at all.

Can’t be involved in illegal exotic animal trading and drug running if you couldn’t keep your gob shut.

Rose saw the Doctor the moment they rounded the curve in the island. He stood there, in that damned wetsuit that shouldn’t look sexy but hell. Then again, everything he wore looked sexy to Rose. His scowled down at what, Rose presumed, was the octopus. She couldn’t see the creature, could they live out of water?

He looked up, caught her gaze for the slightest moment. No more than the blink of an eye, if anyone actually paid attention.

Rose had a feeling Bill did. She saw everything.

The group surrounding the Doctor looked like the entire student population plus at least half the island. Rose saw Jabe there and couldn’t help the sting of jealousy.

It wasn’t Jabe’s fault she was allowed to be so open with her affection. Or that most of the students and Saxon thought the Doctor’s affections lay with Jabe and they were romantically involved. She provided information to the Doctor and coordinated with international authorities in their quest to stop Saxon.

It was Saxon’s fault.

“Oi, shift!” Bill pushed her way to the front, dragging Rose with her.

Rose watched the Doctor from the corner of her eye but reminded herself with every breath and each beat of her heart not to look at him.

Once she did, everyone would know she loved that man more than life itself. All right—plus their covers would be blown, Saxon would figure them out, and all Jabe and Jack’s work would be shot.

“Oh!”

“Where’d she get the necklace?” Someone asked, Rose didn’t know who.

“Took it off the Doctor!” Another called back. Ace McShane, Rose thought, but she couldn’t tear her gaze from the octopus.

“She blinked up at the Doctor, grinned—I swear to you she grinned—” Ace continued with far too much glee in Rose’s opinion— “and slipped her tentacle into his wetsuit. Took the necklace and rings right from around his neck!”

“Who’s are they, Doctor?” Someone else shouted.

One glower from the Doctor, who looked ready to single handedly tear apart the camp, shut everyone up.

“I do not see how that is any of your business, Adric. Nor do I see why an octopus is so fascinating to a group of oceanographic majors. I’m sure,” he continued, voice dripping with callous condensation, “you’ve seen one before. And if you haven’t, I want to know why each one of you lied on your fieldwork papers.”

It did not surprise Rose, still in a state of semi-shock, that the group quieted and slowly drifted back to their own work. Bill tugged her arm, but Rose couldn’t move. She stood, bare feet rooted to the sand, and stared at the octopus the Doctor had rescued.

There, in a glass aquarium, clearly reveling in the attention, if an octopus could revel in Human attention, swam the octopus the Doctor had divested of plastic straws. Idris the Octopus swam with Rose’s necklace clutched in one tentacle, her wedding rings trailing through the salt water.

“I’m going to kill him.”


	6. Chapter 6

6.

That night, the Doctor stole through the wood around the beach and unerringly made his way toward Rose’s bungalow. The faint moonlight peaking through the trees offered just enough light to see by.

He hadn’t a plan, not really. The Doctor knew she roomed with Bill, and knew which place hers was, but other than that hadn’t any idea how to sneak into her room. And sneak in he planned. He missed her. God, he missed her. 

Shaking it off, determined, he stepped from the cover of the trees and decided on the bold stroll approach. When in doubt, just do it. Two steps from the tree line, her door opened. He froze.

Rose looked around the deserted street, not even a car drove past, and ran down the steps. The Doctor grinned and waited. He knew the exact moment she spotted him, her gait quickened, and her smile widened.

She ran the last few steps, and he braced, arms wide.

“Missed you.” Rose threw her arms around him and hugged tight.

The Doctor pulled her up even as he leaned down to kiss her. The weight of her body, the feel of her warmth, eased the band around his chest, constricting his lungs and squeezing his heart. Just being with her made him better.

“Missed you, too, sweetheart.” The Doctor lowered her to the ground, mouth pressed to hers. “When this is done, I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”

Rose’s hold tightened on him. “I should say something about that, about macho bullshit.” She pressed her lips hard to his. “But I may never let you out of our _bed_ again.”

He chuckled and pulled her deeper into the shadows. No sense blowing their cover now. Dried branches cracked underfoot, and the Doctor moved until his back hit a tree.

“Wait a minute.” Rose pulled back, nearly out of his arms entirely. “I’m mad at you!” She poked him in the chest and he sighed.

“It’s not my fault,” he groused. “Damn wily octopus, I’ve no idea how she got the necklace over my head.”

Rose huffed and even in the tree cover, he saw her disbelieving glare. “I’m sure.”

“Honestly, it’s all a blur. One minute I’m swatting 7 plastic straw filled tentacles from attacking me while I’m trying to surgically remove the straw imbedded in one tentacle, the next she’s got the necklace and your rings.”

“Retaliation,” Rose announced. “She’s pissed you were messing with her.”

“I was helping!” the Doctor protested.

Rose giggled and snuggled against him. “I’m sure she’s grateful.” She pressed her lips to his chest. Through the thin cotton of his shirt, he felt her warmth. “What happens now? By now, the entire island knows you wore a necklace with an engagement and wedding ring. Saxon’s going to investigate.”

“He won’t find you. I already phoned Jack.” His arms tightened around her and he scanned the area. Saxon and Lucy had retired to their private bungalow, they never emerged until morning, but the Doctor kept an eye for wandering flunkies.

Saxon didn’t work alone.

“Anyone approach you?” The Doctor leaned back just enough to see her. He never tired of watching her.

“No.” Rose pouted. “I’m beginning to wonder if my past is a little too obvious. Saxon commented on it once, when I arrived, but nothing since then.”

“Maybe we should’ve changed some of it. Maybe he thought parts were made up.”

Rose snorted. “I wish. Unfortunately, it’s all true.”

The Doctor hated how she spoke about her past, the scars it still left. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and forced himself not to lift her into his arms and take her back to his bed. Hold her, make love to her, be with her, just breathe her in.

“We’ll get him,” he promised. “You only have another couple weeks here, he’ll make a move by then.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“I don’t know,” the Doctor admitted. “I don’t know.”

He held her half the night, until the moon arced through the sky and Rose dozed in his arms. Kissing her gently, the Doctor walked her back to the tree line.

“Get some sleep, sweetheart.” He kissed her again. How had he ever let her out of his sight? “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Rose tightened her fingers around his and slowly walked away, fingers slipping with each step.

The Doctor waited until she ran up the steps to her bungalow and closed the door behind her. Then he turned for his own rooms and his own restless night’s sleep.

****  
Despite threats, cajoling, glaring, and outright grabbing, the Doctor could not outwit an octopus.

“Catch me helping you again,” he grumbled at it.

Damn cheeky thing merely swam around its small enclosure. Sure enough, in the barely risen sunlight, the Doctor swore it grinned up at him.

The breeze off the Caribbean did little to cool his temper or the very real fear Rose might make good on her threat and kill him. Though she considered herself a lover not a fighter, the Doctor had seen her stand toe-to-toe against rude art patrons, ignorant men on the streets, and Jack Harkness.

“If you don’t give that back to me, she’s going to skin me alive.”

Idris—and no, he had no idea why he decided to name an octopus or where the name had come from—continued swimming around her tank, contorting herself into a corner, through a rock, and all the while holding Rose’s engagement and wedding rings secure in one tentacle.

No matter how or where she swam, Idris never let the rings scrape the bottom, or the rocks, or clank the glass enclosure. The Doctor swore, but only to himself and never to another soul upon pain of execution, that the octopus took gentle care with them.

“How the hell did you get them anyway?” The Doctor stood back and ran a hand over his face. His beard had grown out, salty and brittle from his early morning swim.

He hadn’t been able to sleep after leaving Rose and had tossed and turned most of the night. Giving up on sleep, the Doctor had climbed from bed and gone for a swim, then decided to check on their newest camp addition. 

Gaze drifting to Saxon’s camp, he searched for Rose. Always searched for her. But it was entirely too early for anyone to be up and about.

Except for Bill, apparently.

She walked across the sand, keeping to the tree line and the shadows that afforded. The Doctor stilled, curious and cautious. Rose liked Bill, said the woman helped her with the specifics on the paperwork the Doctor hadn’t been able to teach her in time.

The fact she crossed the beach now settled like a rock in his stomach. Could be she wanted a walk. Could be, she liked predawn and the quiet. Could be, she wanted to meet someone on the sly, though neither he nor Saxon had a rule about fraternization.

Could be a hundred things.

The Doctor knew it was not. He new Bill walked this beach, long before most anyone else rose, to find him.

“Doctor.” Bill bit her lips, gaze bouncing from him to the water, to the shadowy trees, to Idris, back to him. “I don’t know who to tell, but I think I’m in trouble.”

The Doctor frowned. “If you’re pregnant, it doesn’t matter for the fieldwork.”

Had he misjudged the situation? Unsettled, he waited. He didn’t know what else to do.

“What?” Bill blinked and snorted. “No, I’m not pregnant. Why is that every man’s first thought? Geez. I’m a lesbian.”

“All right.” He nodded. “I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions. What sort of trouble?”

“It’s—” she chewed her lip again and looked over her shoulder. “Billy and Ace say you’re standup, are you—I mean you aren’t working with—how do I know I can trust you?”

“Ah.” He dropped his arms and plunged his hand into Idris’s tank. No sooner had he moved—or thought about moving—than the octopus curled in a tight ball around Rose’s rings. “Well I’m rubbish at keeping my wife’s wedding rings safe.” He sighed, shoulders slumped. “She’s going to skin me alive.”

He didn’t know if he spoke to Bill or Idris.

“Wife?” Bill perked up. “Didn’t know you were married. Congratulations!” Then she frowned and looked at him suspiciously. “Why are you here and she’s not then? And why do I hear rumors of you and Miss Jabe? Why were you wearing your wife’s rings around your neck? Oh, no, did something happen to her?”

The Doctor opened his mouth but all he had was his own voice berating him for such a slip-up. Damn.

“Don’t know how I can prove trustworthiness.” He cast one final glare at Idris then focused on Bill. “Don’t know how anyone can. Just is or isn’t, yeah? I can promise all sorts of things, and even though I don’t make promises I won’t try to keep, you don’t know that about me.”

Bill watched him, head tilted slightly, her bright hairbow struggling against the wind. The Doctor held her gaze, calm and steady. He really wanted to hear Bill say she had the dirt on Saxon. _Really_ wanted to hear that.

Finally she nodded. Straightened as if in front of a school master. Or a court of law. “Professor Saxon enlisted me in what I feel is a highly illegal activity.” She paused and took a deep breath. “He wants me to collect endangered hawksbill sea turtles for selling.”


End file.
